JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s next governor said one of his top priorities is addressing crime and he wants to do that by putting the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department under state control.
The topic isn’t new to lawmakers. Both the House and the Senate have spent hours in years past debating who should control the city’s police department. Across the state, the Kansas City Police Department is controlled by the state, and many say it hasn’t reduced crime or made the city safer.
“I would say I feel like Republicans love to attack Kansas City and St Louis,” Rep. Emily Weber, D-Kansas City, said. “I don’t think that attacking St. Louis and trying to take away their local control of their police department is the answer or the solution.”
A long-debated political issue resurfaced following the election.
“I’ve been very vocal, especially in St. Louis, that I think state control is appropriate for that police department,” Governor-Elect Mike Kehoe said.
In response, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones promptly issued a statement, saying, in part, “Every year since I’ve been in office, St. Louis has seen a significant reduction in crime and homicides, and a state takeover threatens that progress.”
Jones pointed to the Kansas City Police Department’s state takeover, noting that Kansas City experienced a record high in homicides in 2023. She also highlighted that, under her leadership, the city reached a 10-year low in homicides that same year.
Weber represents Kansas City in the General Assembly and said her constituents constantly say they wish their police department was locally controlled.
“Here in KC, that’s a conversation that we’ve continued to have for years; why don’t we have control of our police department, and when is that going to happen?” Weber said. “I’m for certain and for sure that St. Louis and Kansas City will stand together to make sure that this does not cross the finish line.”
Kehoe believes if the state has control of the agency, streets will be safer, and it will be easier to recruit and retain officers.
“You’re not going to have any private business consortium spend money and redeveloping of any inner city, not just St. Louis, unless they feel like their employees and their customers can be safe,” Kehoe said. “There are other states around the union, we’re looking at some of the other models that they’ve done for recruiting and retention of officers and we think we’ve got some pretty good ideas out there to give the men and ladies in blue the resources they need, the protections their family needs to really make Missouri one of the best if not the best law enforcement states in the nation.”
Mayor Jones went on in her statement to say, “I’ll continue to work with Chief Tracy, our Office of Violence Prevention, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, and community partners to reduce crime in St. Louis and advocate fiercely against state control.”
Back in 2012, Missouri voters approved to put the department under control of the mayor’s office. Before that, a state-appointed board ran the department. It was initially established to keep Union supporters in St. Louis from controlling the police department’s weapons arsenal.
Chief of SLMPD, Robert J. Tracy, has been on record in the last legislative session and currently saying that his police department is better as a department under local control.
Under the legislation filed in previous sessions, the department would be overseen by a five-member board of police commissioners appointed by the governor which includes the mayor, similar to Kansas City.
Kansas City is the only major city that does not have control over its own police department.
When asked for a response to Kehoe’s proposal, a spokesperson for Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said:
“As Kansas citians have seen, for generations, state control has too often been synonymous with a lack of accountability by police departments under the state’s control. Under Mayor Jones’ leadership, St. Louis has made commendable improvements in public safety by demanding accountability. The Mayor appreciates Governor-elect Kehoe’s interest in safer communities, a goal shared by the Mayor, but state control has not led to increased hiring or better staffing, nor has it reduced crime in our community. As Governor-elect Kehoe takes office, the Mayor looks forward to working with his administration and state legislators to increase accountability and identify solutions to the city’s ongoing 9-1-1 crisis and inadequate recruitment and retention of officers by our state-controlled police department.”